Police said a bullet accidentally fired by a 17-year-old boy early May 20 was from a vintage World War II rifle, a Mauser 98. The bullet struck a 15-year-old girl in the leg, who was sleeping in her bed three apartments away from where the bullet was fired, police said. The case is being reviewed by the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's Office.(Photo: Provided/Greg Swank)

A vintage Mauser 98 rifle seemed like an ideal birthday present two years ago for a 15-year-old boy, but no one foresaw the unintended pain its bullet would inflict early May 20.

While a 15-year-old girl slept in her bed in an apartment in the 3900 block of Amelia Court, the now 17-year-old boy began to clean the rifle just before 3 a.m., Lafayette police Lt. Scott Galloway said. But something went wrong. A bullet from the high-powered rifle accidentally was fired, he said.

The incident begs the question about teenagers and firearm possession.

The short answer is that Indiana law allows a child — defined as anyone younger than 18 — to legally possess a firearm if the child is under the parent/guardian's control or the child has permission to possess the firearm.

Indiana law also prescribes crimes for dangerous possession of a firearm and dangerous control of a firearm.

The rifle is a World War II Mauser 98, Galloway said. Since the night of the shooting, the rifle and its ammunition are in the police department's property room, Galloway said.

The Mauser 98, a bolt-action rifle, was first produced in 1898 and was the primary weapon of German infantry soldiers in World Wars I and II, according to Michelle Hildebrant, a World War I historical re-enactor from Chesterfield who owns a Mauser 98. It has an internal magazine that holds five rounds. When empty, the magazine is replenished with a stripper clip of five new bullets.

The Mauser 98 fires one round with each trigger pull, and a bullet must be manually loaded into the chamber after each shot fired, she confirmed.

The piece also has a two-stage safety. In one stage, the rifle cannot be fired because the bolt cannot be opened to chamber a round, she said. In the other stage — the stage for cleaning — the bolt can be opened, but the firing pin cannot be moved to strike the primer if a bullet is in the chamber, she said.

That's academic and none of it mattered just before 3 a.m. May 20 when the bullet fired from the 17-year-old's rifle tore through three apartments and struck the girl in the leg, police said.

At that point in time, the only thing that mattered was saving a teenager's life.

The first police officer on the scene applied a tourniquet, saving the girl's leg, police said.

The teen was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for treatment, and she's since been transferred to Riley Hospital for Children for rehabilitation, Galloway said Thursday.

The Journal & Courier's attempts to reach the family have been unsuccessful.

Whether anyone is charged in this incident is under review by the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's Office, which received the case on May 25, Galloway said.